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UN Special Envoy on Syria not to take part in Moscow intra-Syrian meeting

The intra-Syrian meeting that is to begin in the Russian capital on Monday, January 26, will be rather closed, the source said

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. United Nations Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura will not take part in an intra-Syrian meeting in Moscow, a well-informed source told TASS on Saturday.

The intra-Syrian meeting that is to begin in the Russian capital on Monday, January 26, will be rather closed, the source said. “Neither foreign ministry representatives, nor representatives of the Russian government will take part,” the source said. “Moscow just offers a venue for the Syrians who need to establish a dialogue.”

The source confirmed that the meeting would be moderated by Vitaly Naumkin, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies. No information in available on who would represent the Syrian sides.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed the hope that the intra-Syrian meeting in Moscow on January 26 through 29 might elp translating the dialogue between the government and the opposition into practice. He stressed that Russia’s task was to “have the opposition gather in one room.”

“We hope that after the discussion the opposition members will be able to find understanding that they want to live in Syria which is a sovereign state with territorial integrity and its ethnic and religious groups are equally protected,” he said. “It should be just a statement of fact, there should be no complicated constructions.”.